Tue, Jun 07, 2005 page20

• Nadal becomes king of clay

  FRENCH OPEN The men's final featured spectacular exchanges at dramatic moments, but it was Spain's young star who came out on top at Roland Garros

  • AP
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  Rafael Nadal's first Grand Slam final will be remembered for the magnificent tiebreaker he lost, the set points he saved and the title he won.

  In a match filled with spectacular exchanges at dramatic moments, Nadal beat an unseeded but unyielding Mariano Puerta 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to win the French Open.

  With Sunday's victory, the young king of clay earned a congratulatory handshake from the king of Spain.

  

  French football player Zinedine Zidane, left, hands the French Open men's singles champioship trophy to Rafael Nadal of Spain after Nadal defeated Mariano Puerta of Argentina 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday. The Real Madrid star congratulatedNadal and said that the 19-year-old tennis player is ``a phenomenon.''

  PHOTO: AFP

  "This is incredible," Nadal said. "It's a dream come true."

  The fourth-seeded Nadal overcame three set points in the final set and became the youngest men's Grand Slam champion since Pete Sampras won the US Open at 19 in 1990. Nadal's the first man to win the French Open on his initial try since Mats Wilander, who claimed the first of his seven Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros in 1982.

  For sheer entertainment, the final surprisingly surpassed Nadal's semifinal win on his 19th birthday against top-ranked Roger Federer.

  The match inspired the best kind of clay-court creativity, keeping both players on the run as they chased drop shots, lobs and sharply angled groundstrokes. Some of the best rallies came in the tiebreaker, with each point seemingly more spectacular than the last.

  Puerta, hampered by a sore thigh and weary from consecutive 3-hour five-setters in the previous two rounds, kept battling Nadal even after losing the second and third sets.

  "He brought out the best in me," Puerta said. "I lost to an excellent player. He's the best player in the world."

  The Argentine's efforts to force a fifth set won over the center-court crowd, who repeatedly chanted his name, and drew applause even from Nadal's coach and uncle, Toni Nadal.

  "Mariano played better tennis than Rafa," Toni Nadal said. "But Rafa had the luck when he needed it."

  Puerta was one point from winning the fourth set serving at 5-4, 40-15. But in another series of thrilling exchanges, Nadal rallied to break serve for 5-all. Two games later, after 3 hours, 24 minutes of tennis, he closed out the victory when Puerta pushed a forehand wide.

  Nadal collapsed to the clay, flat on his back, then rose and embraced Puerta at the net. The young Spaniard then trotted to the other end of the court to shake hands with King Juan Carlos of Spain.

  "I didn't think he was going to arrive this early in his career," said Wilander, who covered the match as a TV commentator. "But mentally he's just so tough."

  With his 24th consecutive victory, Nadal surpassed Andre Agassi for the longest winning streak by a male teenager in the Open era. All of the victories have come on clay.

  Nadal celebrated shots by flexing his Popeye-caliber biceps, and with leaps, uppercuts, and other muscular moves worthy of Olympic judo champion David Douillet of France, seated in the second row.

  But while the charismatic teen delighted fans, so did the journeyman Puerta. He won one point with a flying forehand volley, a la Boris Becker, and another when he faked a drop shot to send Nadal into a skid, then hit a deep forehand winner instead.

  It was the first all-lefty men's final at Roland Garros since 1946, and Nadal become the first left-handed men's champion since Thomas Muster in 1995. He's the youngest French Open men's winner since Michael Chang, the champ in 1989 at age 17.

  On a cool, gray afternoon, Nadal broke in the opening game and led 3-1 when Puerta called for a trainer in the middle of the next game.

  Puerta framed backhands on consecutive points to fall behind 40-15, then went to his changeover chair for treatment. He grimaced as the trainer massaged his right thigh, then taped it.

  With that, Puerta rallied. He won the game, then broke serve for 3-all. Both players held to the tiebreaker, and Nadal led 3-2 when the two players began a sequence of six consecutive spectacular points.

  Each involved scrambling exchanges with plenty of improvisation and improbable saves. When Nadal sent a backhand winner down line for a 5-4 lead, he dropped his racket so he could celebrate with both hands, then pounded his chest with his fist.

  At 5-all, the Spaniard went into a shoulder roll in the clay trying to scoop out a shot in the corner. He lost the point, and two points later his lob landed a millimeter wide, giving Puerta the set after 72 minutes.

  Nadal was 1-for-8 on break-point chances before he converted for a 3-1 lead in the second set. He broke three more times in the third set while easily holding serve, but there was more drama to come.

  Puerta's last gasp came serving at 5-4 in the final set. On one set point, he lunged to his right to dig out a volley, then leaped to his left in a vain attempt to return another, dumping the ball in the net as he landed in the clay.

  The last point of the game produced another frantic exchange. Nadal charged forward to scoop up a drop shot, and when Puerta sent a forehand back toward him from point-blank range, the Spaniard hit a reflex volley for a winner.

  Nadal received 880,000 euros (US$1,082,400) for his sixth tournament title this year, all on clay. Puerta, who arrived in Paris with a career Grand Slam record of 8-15 and a tainted reputation after serving a nine-month drug suspension, won admirers with his grinding style and received 440,000 euros (US$541,200).

  Top-seeded Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain and Paola Suarez of Argentina won their fourth French Open women's doubles title Sunday by beating Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of South Africa 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

  The win marked the eighth Grand Slam doubles title for Ruano Pascual and Suarez.

  They said friendship is the key to their success.

  "We know each other very well," Pascual said. "We know exactly what the other one is going to do at each moment."

  It's "as if we were one person, on the court and off the court," Suarez said.

  On the court, the duo has reached 13 Grand Slam finals together. They won the trophy at the last three US Opens, the 2004 Australian Open and at Roland Garros in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

  Sunday's match marked their sixth straight final at Roland Garros.

  The pair holds the second-longest streak of consecutive major doubles finals (nine stretching from the 2003 to 2005 French Opens).

  FOOTBALL HERO

  Not only did Rafael Nadal win the French Open trophy, but it was handed to him by one of his idols -- Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane.

  "He's one of the best athletes," Nadal said of Zidane.

  Nadal is "a mad fan of Real Madrid," according to his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, who said the 19-year-old regards Zidane as an athlete who is "as high as any man can get."

  Another of Nadal's uncles is former Spanish player Miguel Angel Nadal -- who played for Real Madrid's rival where he was known as the "Beast of Barcelona." He was cheering for his nephew from the VIP seats Sunday.

  Zidane had a few memorable words for Nadal.

  "He wished me good luck," Nadal said. "He congratulated me. He said I was a phenomenon."
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